jumping Frenchmen of Maine syndrome

a culture-bound syndrome resembling latah, observed in lumberjacks of French Canadian descent living in Quebec and Maine. It is characterized by an extreme startle response involving yelling, imitative speech and behavior, involuntary jumping, flinging of the arms, and command obedience. Also called jumper disease of Maine; jumping disease. See also imu; myriachit.

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Psychology term of the day

February 16th 2025

compensatory mechanism

a cognitive process that is used to offset a cognitive weakness. For example, someone who is weaker in spatial abilities than in verbal abilities might use compensatory mechanisms to attempt to solve spatial problems, such as mentally rotating a geometric figure by using verbal processes. The underlying theory is that intelligence partly consists of finding ways to compensate for the skills that one has lost over time or in which one was not adept in the first place.